Diving to Antarctica's Seafloor in a Tiny Sub

Amazing images! So colorful down there!

Diving to Antarctica's Seafloor in a Tiny Sub - YouTube

New Evidence Reveals Antarctica Was Warm & Green some 90-100 million years ago

Global Warming (aka climate change) is nothing new! How often were there actually significan warm periods on Earth over the last let's say 100 million years? 

Like Greenland when the Vikings arrived around 982 AD/CE.

Apparently, 100 million years ago Antarctica was located over the South Pole as it is today. Or in other words, it appears the geographic location of Antarctica did not change and could explain the warming period.  

(139) New Evidence Reveals Ancient Antarctica Was Warm & Green | WION - YouTube

Network of complex microbes discovered at mysterious Blood Falls in Antarctica

Amazing stuff!

Notice that this research perhaps confirms there were other warm climatic periods on Earth (different from the Medieval Warm Period) perhaps predating human civilization. Global Warming is a hoax and Climate Change is a religion! Perhaps the sun and its solar activity and cycles not greenhouse (trace) gases mostly determine warmer and colder periods on Earth!

"Now, a Nature Geoscience study suggests Blood Falls also preserves biological clues to Antarctica’s past. Researchers found molecular evidence of an active, marine-derived community of microscopic eukaryotes — organisms whose cells have a nucleus — near the Taylor Glacier terminus, pointing to ancient seawater that may have entered the valley during warmer periods before becoming sealed beneath ice. ..."

From the abstract:

"The McMurdo Dry Valleys contain a mosaic of specialized microbial habitats structured by strong physical and chemical gradients.

Blood Falls, located at the terminus of the Taylor Glacier, is a red, iron-rich outflow of deep Antarctic subglacial brine with geochemical and isotopic evidence supporting a potential ancient marine origin.

Previous studies suggest the brine formed when seawater inundated the Taylor Valley over warm climatic intervals before becoming isolated beneath the advancing glacier.

Here, across 167 aquatic, sediment and aeolian samples from the McMurdo Dry Valleys and marine reference sites, we identified a distinct marine micro-eukaryotic assemblage restricted to red-hued ice, mud and sediment at the Taylor Glacier terminus.

Marine indicator species were identified across several phylogenetic groups including diatoms, haptophytes, dinoflagellates and ciliates.

Metatranscriptomic profiles revealed transcriptionally active phototrophs with enriched pathways for photosynthesis, osmotic stress responses and cellular repair. Haplotype networks showed lineage-specific divergence between Taylor Glacier terminus and McMurdo Sound diatoms, supporting geographic isolation.

These findings indicate that the subglacial brine-fed system at the Taylor Glacier terminus retains marine-derived biological signatures long after physical separation from the ocean, linking contemporary Antarctic microbial assemblages to past climatic transitions."

Red marks the spot: Network of complex microbes discovered at mysterious Blood Falls | Yale News "A research team co-led by a Yale scientist has identified complex organisms near the Blood Falls area of the Taylor Glacier in Antarctica — a discovery that offers new implications for how microbial life adapts to harsh environmental conditions."

Ancient marine life may be hiding in Antarctica’s Blood Falls (original news release) "Blood Falls has long been one of Antarctica’s strangest landmarks: a red-stained outflow that spills from the face of Taylor Glacier into the cold, dry landscape of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The color comes from iron-rich brine that has been trapped beneath the glacier, isolated from the outside world and periodically released into the polar desert."

Molecular evidence for a relict marine community in an Antarctic Dry Valleys subglacial brine-fed system (open access)

The research team collects samples at Blood Falls in 2023.

Antarctic sea ice rebounds in 2026, nearing average after four years. Really!

I believe, the shrinking of the Antarctic ice cover was also used as "evidence" for global warming/climate change. However, it appears the ice cover naturally varies from year to year or so.

Notice satellite measurement data only goes back to 1979!

"The area covered by Antarctic sea ice likely reached its annual minimum level at 2.58 million square kilometers (996,000 square miles) on Feb. 26, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Every year Antarctic sea ice reaches a minimum level during the Southern Hemisphere's summer, so this is the point that scientists measure it for annual readings.

This year's level ranks as the 16th smallest since satellite measurements began in 1979.

The 2026 minimum sea ice extent is closer to average than in the past four years, and 730,000 square kilometers above the record low set in February 2023, the scientists said. ...

This year's return to less extreme conditions is not unexpected given the large year-to-year variation of Antarctic sea ice seen in the satellite record," said Walt Meier, scientist at the NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center."

Antarctic sea ice rebounds in 2026, nearing average after four years "Antarctic sea ice coverage has likely rebounded this year, coming closer to its annual summer average after four years of extreme lows, US scientists said Monday."

Record-breaking Antarctic drill sediment core of over 225 m length reveals 23 million years of climate history

Amazing stuff! Global warming aka climate change is normal and has repeated itself over thousands of years!

Possibly, variations in solar activity of the sun are to be blamed!

"... "To our knowledge, the longest sediment cores previously drilled under an ice sheet are less than 10 m," ... "We exceeded our target of 200 m, and undertook this 700 km from the nearest base—this is Antarctic frontier science." ...

The 228 m of ancient mud and rock was drilled from under 523 m of ice at a deep-field camp at Crary Ice Rise on the edge of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. ...

The new sediment core ... provides a direct and comprehensive record of how this margin of the ice sheet has behaved during past periods of warmth. ...

including time periods when Earth's global average temperatures were significantly higher than 2°C above pre-industrial," ..."

"... The sediment core holds an archive of past environmental conditions from warmer periods in Earth’s history ..."

Record-breaking Antarctic drill reveals 23 million years of climate history

Record-breaking sediment core provides unprecedented evidence of West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat

A complete, topographical map of the bedrock of Antarctica from satellite images. Really!

I have some serious doubts about this approach! Apparently, the available radar data of the bedrock of Antarctica was neither incorporated nor compared to.

"... A new approach could change that. Researchers have created a complete map of Antarctica’s bedrock simply by using satellite images of the surface, they report today in Science. The method, which extrapolates from subtle surface undulations in the ice to ascertain the features causing them at depth, could strengthen models of how Antarctica’s ice flows, a critical factor in how much slides into the sea and adds to sea level rise, the team says. ..."

"... A new approach could change that. Researchers have created a complete map of Antarctica’s bedrock simply by using satellite images of the surface, they report today in Science. The method, which extrapolates from subtle surface undulations in the ice to ascertain the features causing them at depth ...

Scientists have been mapping the world below Antarctica for decades using radar. The low-frequency radio waves can penetrate kilometers of clear ice, bouncing off layers in the ice, water, and the bedrock at the bottom. Still, the radars only see directly below them. These campaigns are sometimes separated by 100 kilometers, leaving wide swaths of the continent’s subsurface unexamined ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

What do we know about the landscapes beneath the ice of Antarctica? Less than we know about Mercury. To map the continent’s subglacial topography, Ockenden et al. developed a way to invert ice surface satellite data based on the physics of how ice gets perturbed when flowing over bedrock features ... Their map unveils a variety of terrains, including high-relief alpine valleys, scoured lowlands, and deeply eroded ice stream troughs. The landscapes are more varied than presumed by earlier site-specific geophysical surveys, and the newly resolved topography will help to refine projections of ice loss and sea level rise. ...

Abstract

The landscape shrouded by the Antarctic Ice Sheet provides important insights into its history and influences the ice response to climate forcing. However, knowledge of this critical boundary has depended on interpolation between irregularly distributed geophysical surveys, creating major spatial biases in maps of Antarctica’s subglacial landscape. As stress changes associated with ice flow over bedrock obstacles produce ice surface topography, recently acquired, high-resolution satellite maps of the ice surface offer a transformative basis for mapping subglacial landforms.

We present a continental-scale elevation map of Antarctica’s subglacial topography produced by applying the physics of ice flow to ice surface maps and incorporating geophysical ice thickness observations. Our results enrich understanding of mesoscale (2 to 30 kilometers) subglacial landforms and unmask the spatial distribution of subglacial roughness and geomorphology."

ScienceAdviser

What’s below Antarctica’s ice? New map provides clearest view yet "Technique could improve models of how ice flows, bolstering predictions of sea level rise"

Uncovering Antarctica’s ice-draped landscape (Perspective, open access) "The mesoscale topographical variability beneath a continent-scale ice sheet is revealed"

Complex mesoscale landscapes beneath Antarctica mapped from space (open access)

Fig. 1. IFPA subglacial topography of Antarctica.

Chinese submillimeter telescope in Antarctica traces the carbon cycle in the feedback of massive stars

Amazing stuff! Can the West keep up with China?

"... Astronomers in China have now shown it’s possible to peer through this veil, with a small terahertz telescope in the world’s driest spot: Dome A, the highest point on a massive plateau more than 4 kilometers above sea level near the center of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Last week, they reported seeing the faint glow of carbon in gas clouds within distant stellar nurseries, using two weeks’ worth of observations from the Antarctic Terahertz Explorer (ATE60), a prototype instrument with a dish 60 centimeters across. ..."

From the abstract:

"The cycling of carbon between its ionized, atomic, and molecular phases shapes the chemical compositions and physical conditions of the interstellar medium (ISM). However, ground-based studies of the full carbon cycle have been limited by atmospheric absorption.

Dome A, the most promising site for submillimeter astronomy, has long resisted successful submillimeter astronomical observations. Using the 60-centimeter Antarctic Terahertz Explorer, we present the first successful CO (4-3) and [CI] () mapping observations of two archetypal triggered massive star-formation regions at Dome A.

These data, together with archival [CII], provide the first complete characterization of all three carbon phases in these environments. We find elevated C0/CO abundance ratios in high-extinction regions, plausibly driven by deep penetration of intense radiation fields from massive stars into a clumpy ISM. These findings mark a major milestone for submillimeter astronomy at Dome A and offer valuable insights into the impact of massive star feedback on the surrounding ISM."

Chinese telescope in Antarctica probes uncharted heavenly radiation | Science | AAAS

First submillimeter lights from Dome A: Tracing the carbon cycle in the feedback of massive stars

Antarctic submillimeter telescope enables more complete view of the carbon cycle in star-forming regions

Overview of the observational site at Dome A. China’s tiny, 60-centimeter Antarctic Terahertz Explorer observatory

Six-million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica offers unprecedented window into a warmer Earth

Amazing stuff!

The last name of the first author (Sarah Shackelton) of this study is even Shackleton like Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922, an Antarctica explorer. In personal communication, she told me she was "very distantly related".

"A team of U.S. scientists has discovered the oldest directly dated ice and air on the planet in the Allan Hills region of East Antarctica.

The 6-million-year-old ice and the tiny air bubbles trapped inside it provide an unprecedented window into Earth's past climate ..."

From the significance and abstract:

"Significance

Antarctic ice cores provide the most direct archive of Earth’s atmosphere and its largest ice sheets. We report the discovery of ice, dated by its deficit in 40Ar compared to the modern atmosphere, that is up to 6 million years old. Isotopic temperatures from this ice indicate progressive cooling over the Pliocene; enigmatic basal ice from the Miocene is characterized by even warmer temperatures and may reflect a relic from the adolescent days of the Antarctic ice sheet. This archive opens up the possibility of reconstructing Earth’s climate and its largest ice sheet during periods when Earth’s climate was warmer and sea-level was higher.

Abstract

Antarctic ice cores provide a unique archive of Earth’s atmosphere and its largest extant ice sheet. The oldest continuous ice core extends back 800 ky, though discontinuous ice cores from the Allan Hills blue ice area (BIA) have been shown to preserve snapshots of ice and air back to at least 2.7 million years ago (Ma).

Here, we provide snapshots of putatively Miocene and Pliocene ice and air from shallow ice cores drilled in the Allan Hills BIA. The ice, dated using the deficit in 40Ar in ancient air compared to the modern atmosphere, is stratigraphically complex. Nevertheless, surface temperatures inferred from water isotopes correlate with sample age and indicate 12 ± 2 °C of cooling in Antarctica between 6 Ma and the late Pleistocene.

Basal ice is nearly devoid of gases and remains to be dated with existing methods. This undated ice is characterized by an isotopic temperature 5 ± 1 °C warmer than the oldest dated (6 million year old) sample. We speculate that this ice reflects surface snowpack or permafrost that was preserved by the growth of the East Antarctic ice sheet in the Middle to Late Miocene."

Six-million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica offers unprecedented window into a warmer Earth

Six-million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica offers unprecedented window into a warmer Earth (original news release)

Miocene and Pliocene ice and air from the Allan Hills blue ice area, East Antarctica (no public access)

Allan Hills, Antarctica 2022-2023.

Daring 20-hour medical emergency Mission Rescues 3 American scientists from Antarctica led by the New Zealand’s Air Force

Very impressive!

To date, the NSF apparently failed to put out a news release on this amazing rescue operation! I found only a news release from 2021 (see below)

"Three [American scientists from the National Science Foundation] were evacuated from McMurdo Station, a remote U.S. military-supported research base in Antarctica, in a daring 20-hour medical rescue mission led by New Zealand’s Air Force.

One patient required urgent care, and two others needed treatment that the station couldn’t provide. The U.S. requested help from New Zealand.

Faced with 24-hour darkness, sub-zero temperatures, and no backup landing options, a C-130J Hercules military transport aircraft flew round-trip from New Zealand, with a doctor on board.

The aircraft landed on a hand-groomed ice runway using night vision goggles and refueled on the ice without shutting off its engines. All three patients are now receiving care in Christchurch, the nearest major medical hub."

"... The United States Antarctic Program Winter Team must physically create the runway before we can depart by ensuring the ice is groomed and suitable for landing. ..."

Friday, August 8, 2025 - Join The Flyover

RNZAF carries out mid-winter medical evacuation from Antarctica (original news release) "Crew on a Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130J Hercules have carried out a challenging mid-winter medical evacuation from McMurdo Station in Antarctica."

Update: McMurdo station medical evacuation (dated 7/12/2021) Apparently, such medical emergency rescue operations happened before.

Antarctic ice shelf reveals never-before-seen seafloor ecosystem

Amazing stuff! Stunning!

This is the first all-Canadian Antarctic expedition

Good news! Unfortunately, the YouTube video is in narrow format (like so many recent videos)! Unfortunately, the expedition appears to be foremost concerned with the global warming hoax/climate change demagoguery! What a petty! There is so much more to research in the Antarctica!

Chile’s President Boric leads journey to South Pole in historic trip. Really!

There are many ways to make history! 😊

Chile’s President Boric leads journey to South Pole in historic trip | CNN

Chilean President Gabriel Boric displays his country's flag at the South Pole in a photo posted to his X account.

NASA, NOAA 2024 Ozone Hole over the Antarctica Update

I believe, I have not heard or seen anything about the infamous Ozone Hole in years! This Ozone Hole was one of the big alarmism and hysteria of the 1980s!

Looks like the Ozone Hole is doing fine since the early 2000s!

Satellite images show Antarctica is turning ‘green’ faster than previously thought

Good news! Maybe Antarctica will be settled like Greenland over 1,400 years ago by the Vikings during the Medieval Warming Period! 😊

Antarctic Ice sheet variations Explained: The Latest Research

Very recommendable! Exposing the alarmism and hysteria regarding the claim off ice melting around the poles!

Russia finds vast oil and gas reserves in Antarctica

Good news! We are not running out of fossil fuels anytime soon!

The Mount Erebus volcano in Antarctica is spewing out $6,000 worth of gold dust per day

Wonders of nature!

"Mount Erebus, a volcano nestled in the icy expanse of Antarctica, has been continuously erupting since at least 1972. It also has a lava lake sitting at its top. The volcano has pretty rare chemistry, pumping out an uncommon mix of minerals — including 80 grams of crystallized gold daily. That’s around $6,000 per day in gold at today’s prices.  ...

Antarctica is known for its vast expanse of ice and snow. But it’s also a very active volcanic place. According to a recent study, the continent has at least 138 volcanoes, and Erebus is one of the most active. ..."

This volcano in Antarctica is spewing out $6,000 worth of gold dust per day — but good luck getting it Even if you could get there, you're not getting that gold.

Credits: Vulkan in der Antarktis spuckt Goldstaub aus

People living in Antarctica are developing a new accent

Given the conditions, this is not really a surprise! E.g. whenever someone joins a new group, this individual will try to adopt quickly to the other group members including speech. Plus, the researchers and staff are international!

And it certainly has little to do with the Antarctic winter per se as the title of the research paper suggests!

"A study of 26 individuals who stayed at the Rothera Research Station in Antarctica for six months in 2018 reveals that living on the frozen continent can change people’s accents. ..."

From the abstract:

"An acoustic analysis was made of the speech characteristics of individuals recorded before and during a prolonged stay in Antarctica. A computational model was used to predict the expected changes due to close contact and isolation, which were then compared with the actual recorded productions. The individuals were found to develop the first stages of a common accent in Antarctica whose phonetic characteristics were in some respects predicted by the computational model. These findings suggest that the phonetic attributes of a spoken accent in its initial stages emerge through interactions between individuals causing speech production to be incrementally updated."

People living in Antarctica are developing a new accent Study shows subtle changes in speech accents among Antarctica's few temporary inhabitants.

Isolated for six months, scientists in Antarctica began to develop their own accent Antarctica is a bleak, remote and dark place during the winter, but a handful of people each year brave the conditions to live in almost totally cut off from the rest of the world. The experience can change how they speak.

Phonetic change in an Antarctic winter (open access)

Flowers Are Spreading in Antarctica each Summer from 2009-18

Good news! Do these plants reduce CO2 in the atmosphere? A nice example of junk journalism!

"On land, scientists have found flowering plants, moss, and algae spreading like never before [??? Utter nonsense!] ...

Moments like these make it clearer than ever that Antarctica is not immune [???] to the climate crisis, as some scientists once thought. ...

At the moment, Antarctica and its associated islands are covered by permanent snow and ice, with only a percent or so of suitable land for flowering plants like the Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) and the Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis). ...

In the past few decades, however, warmer springs and summers have seen such plants take off, with growth rates increasing by 20 percent or more from 2009 to 2018. ...

If vegetation continues to spread into these zones, researchers worry it will lead to "irreversible biodiversity loss" in Antarctica. [??? What!] ...

"Unfortunately, the milder climates will also lower the barrier of invasion for foreign plant and animal species." [what bizarre remarks from a scientist] ..."

Flowers Are Spreading in Antarctica as Summer Temperatures Soar : ScienceAlert Antarctica is looking less and less recognizable with each passing year.

"The majority of the Antarctic continent is covered by permanent ice and snow leaving less than 1% available for colonisation by plants. Most of this ice and snow-free land is found along the Antarctic Peninsula, its associated islands and in coastal regions around the edge of the rest of the Antarctic continent. Even in the most inhospitable ice-free habitats, such as inland mountains and nunataks, life can still be found.

There are no trees or shrubs, and only two species of flowering plants are found: Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) and Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis). These occur on the South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Islands and along the western Antarctic Peninsula. ..."

British Antarctic Survey (BAS)

Tussock grass ( Parodiochloa flabellata , dark green) and Antarctic hair grass ( Deschampsia antarctica , light green) lawn

Greater burnet ( Acaena magellanica) flowers

Preet Chandi completed longest ever solo and unsupported South pole expedition in January

Wow! Bravo!

"Harpreet Kaur Chandi MBE (born 1988/1989) is a British physiotherapist and British Army medical officer who completed a solo expedition across Antarctica to the South Pole, finishing on 3 January 2022. In January 2023, she recorded the longest ever solo and unsupported polar expedition. ..."

Preet Chandi - Wikipedia